4 out of 4 stars
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And Then I Met Margaret: Stories of Ordinary Gurus I’ve Met (Mind Adventure Press, Boston, M.A) is a nonfiction book by Rob White centered on his life and the gurus that impacted him throughout the years. This book is filled with meaningful lessons, and quotes that will make you want to do better. Be better. This book will make you dream of success, give you the desire to thrive, and it will definitely give you a lot to think about.
Constituted from 21 entertaining short stories with morals and life lessons, each describing a chapter in his life, Rob White opens each chapter with a title accompanied by a myth he believed, and ends it with the lesson he learned, the transformed belief. The opening myth alerts the reader of the challenge that is coming. It let me imagine a story and try to guess the transformed myth. I liked that even though he wrote what he learned, it didn't stop me from drawing my own conclusions.
The 1st chapter made me cry, he talked about his late aunt Theresa the first guru he encountered. She was one of the kindest people he knew, she was loving and always had time to play. Despite being an amazing human being she ended up an old maid judged by all, criticized and a source of gossip. You see Rob was raised in a small town where boys grew up to become their fathers and girls married and took care of the children. And his aunt didn’t follow that system. Later on, Rob began to rebel against this said system, he stood up for a deer and challenged the authority of a police man, he changed his haircut… Funny how a single haircut could change you. Rob soon went against the traditions and the path that was decided for him. White went to college where a janitor encouraged him to put himself out there. He met Rose Kennedy, got caught cheating and left his teaching job because Debbie decided she was smarter than she believed she was.
Rob White is a self-made successful person, and by sharing these short stories he gave us an insight to his life. I liked that he was honest with us, he recounted the self-doubt he felt, and shared with us some of his most vulnerable moments. As he became more successful, he became more self-centered (some might say arrogant). Meeting Margaret was a turning point for him.
And then I met Margaret will make you laugh, scream in frustration and cry, it will make you relate to the author, and dwell on the gurus in your life. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars and strongly recommend reflecting and thinking about every newly acquired lesson.
I took my time reading this book, thinking about the meaning of my life and how in return I affect the life of others with my actions and words. Although I didn't identify with all the chapters, I did see part of myself in him and began recounting stories of my own. But even though I couldn't relate with some tales it doesn't mean he didn't give us good lessons. The main point of the book is that we can find our own "gurus" in our everyday life. And hopefully I might be a guru to someone one day!
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And Then I Met Margaret
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